Sparking top



March 6, 1934. Q BROWN 1,949,858

SPARKING TOP Filed May 20, 1933 IN VIZN TOR.

Patented Mar. 6, 1934 1,949,858

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPARKING TOP Irving 0. Brown, Baltimore, Md.

Application May 20, 1933. Serial No. 672,074

10 Claims. (Cl. 46-14) This invention relates to a toy and more particand a pencil of pyrophoric material 13 is mounted ularly to a sparking top. in a socket 14 in the slot 15. The saw slot 15 is One object of this invention is to provide a sprung slightly open as by a screwdriver to allow manually operable top which will emit a shower the pyrophoric material to enter its socket, and of sparks when operated. to provide a tension grip to maintain its position. 55

Another Obj of this invention is to provide Furthermore, this simple mounting allows the a. simple sparking top which is cheap to manupencil 13 to be adjusted to compensate for wear, feetllre, and Which y be operated With Perfect by merely springing the slot open and moving the safety by children. pencil inwardly; also a new pencil 13 may be eas- Various other objects of the inve t on W be ily inserted in the same manner, this adjustment 60 p n m the f llowing description and D- or replacement being accomplished without dispended claims. In the drawings which illustrate assembling th t y p r d d nts, i being understood on the adjacent flat face of intermediate disk that t e inve ion is t limited t the speeifie 26, a disk or strip of abradant material such as forms e d for the Purp of illustration, carborundum paper 12 is mounted, whereby 65 1 shows the p held in the hand for Opel sparks are emitted by the relative rotary moveetiOn, ment of pyrophoric pencil 13 and paper 12.

2 is p P View, It will be noted that the pivot bearing of the Fi 3 is a sid l vat of my novel p, the momentum disk 11 comprises a bearing portion 17 head of the Pivot sereW being cut away, closely adjacent to the intermediate disk 26 of 70 Fi 4 is a nt a s t n on line of 3 pulley 7, the outer bearing portion being cut away 5 s ws a side elevation of a modified form, as at 16. This cut-away portion 16 is preferably With the pivot screw broken away, on the opposite side of disk 11 from the pyrophoric Fi 6 is a Central section thereof, pencil 13. This cut-away portion 16 gives the i '1 i a central section of another fidisk 11 a tendency to move the pencil 13 toward eatio the pulley '7, due principally to the mass or weight Re erri o t drawing wherein like ehemeof disk 11 above the pivot pin being supported only ters i a like p y novel n mp s at a point close to pulley 7. This unsupported a rooved pul ey made of oo phenolic mass tends to tilt momentum disk 11 to the dotted densation product or other material havingaflexl ti of Fig 4, h narrow bearing 17 S0 i le element, Preferably a cord 9 secured to allows momentum disk 11 to assume angular posiadjacent to the axle 10. As seen in Fig. 4 the tions, as shown, groove in the P y is offset to One side of Pulley The operation of the sparking top is as follows: '7- A p v t pin such as a d screw 8 pr t When thrown from the hand, the end of the cord 5 from one Sid o p y the Pivot P being in being held, the top unwinds from the string and 3; alignment and forming in effect a continuation of then winds up due t it nt m a d ret ns the axle to the throwers hand. The momentum disk 11 A momentum member in the form of a disk 11 however, is not directly driven by the string and is loosely sWiVeled 011 the pivot P 8. The entire derives its rotation solely by the relatively small assembly is so constructed that the mass of the friction of its narrow bearing 17 and the fric- 90 pa is substantially the same on Opposite sides tional contact of pyrophoric pencil 13 and abraof t e ax e 10, that the Weight 0f disk 11 p dant material 12. Thus the momentum disk 11 a of the intermediate disk 26 equals that Of revolves considerably slower than pulley '7, and a pull y '7. In t way the entire p is a d shower of sparks are emitted. The pencil 13 and y Wind and unwind 0n the string 9 W t u intermittently engages the abrasive 12, the mo- 5 tumbling. mentum disk 11 oscillating back and forth about The proximate faces of disk 11 and intermediits bearing 1'7. ate disk 26 are provided With a g park ng Sparking occurs principally on the down stroke elemen In the folm shown i F s. 1 to 4, the of the top and the rotation of disk 11 gradually disk 11 is radially slotted from one edge as at 15, approaches that of the main pulley 7. By the 0 time the top starts back up the string the disk 11 will have attained approximately the same speed as the pulley 7 and sparking ceases until the next downward stroke. Thus there is no danger of burning the hands, and children are not afraid of operating the top. The disk 11 rapidly oscillates about its narrow bearing 17 to cause the sparking but this oscillation is insufficient to cause tumbling of the top as a whole.

The intermediate disk 26 is preferably made of slightly smaller diameter than pulley 7 and disk 11 to prevent damage to this disk should the top strike the ground.

It has been found in actual practice that for effective operation the assembled top must balance when suspended by the string; that is, the

weight on either side of the groove in pulley 7 should be the same. Furthermore, the relatively narrow bearing 17 for the momentum member 11, with the slot 16 so arranged thatmember 11 may oscillate slightly as well as rotate freely is-' an important feature.

In the modification shown'in Figs. 5 and 6, the momentum disk 18 has two slots 19 carrying pencils 13 of pyrophoric material. These slots are not radial as they would weaken disk 18. The use of two pencils of pyrophoric material gives greater sparking effect and in order to present a different surface on the abradant materiaLthe pencils 13 are at different radial distances from the center.

Afurther modified form is shown in Fig. 7 wherein the main pulley comprises two members 20 and 21 rigidly secured to the screw member 8 in spaced relation. The string 9 winds upon the screw 8 in operating the top. In this form two pencils of pyrophoric material 22 are mounted on intermediate disk 21 and cooperate with a strip of abrasive 23 mounted on momentum disk 25. Disk 25 is normally pressed toward intermediate disk 21 by a light coil spring 24 placed between the head of screw 8 and a shoulder on .momentum disk 25. This spring causes a continuous engagement of the sparking elements.

While I have shown and described in detail the preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be of said pulley and substantially in alignment with the thereof, a momentum member loosely swiveled on said pivot pin, and sparking elements on the proximate faces of said pulley and momentum member, the weight of the pulley and momentum member being balanced on opposite sides of the point of connection of said flexible member, whereby the toy may wind and unwind on the flexible member without sidewise oscillation.

2. A sparking toy of the class described comprising a pulley having an annular groove therein providing a spool, a flexible member in the groove and adapted to wind and unwind on said spool, whereby said pulley may be rotated rapidly by a throwing motion, a pivot pin substantially in alignment with the pulley axis, a momentum member loosely pivoted on said pin whereby said member may rotate independently of and oscillate to a limited extent with respect to said pulley and means for causing sparking by the relative oscillation and rotation of said pulley and momentum member.

3. A sparking toy of the class described comprising a pulley having an annular groove therein providing a spool, a cord in the groove adapted to wind and unwind on the spool, whereby said pulley may be rotated rapidly by a throwing motion, a pivot pin on said pulley in substantial alignment with the axis thereof, a momentum member loosely swiveled on said pivot pin, sparking elements mounted on the proximate faces of said pulley and momentum member, and means causing intermittent engagement of the sparking elements on the proximate faces of said pulley and momentum member during rotation of the pulley.

4. A sparking toy of the class described comprising a. grooved pulley, a cord adapted to wind on said pulley to cause spinning thereof, a pivot pin on said pulley in substantial alignment with the spinning axis thereof, a momentum member freely pivoted on said pin, abradant material and a pencil of pyrophoric material on abutting faces of said pulley and momentum member, the bearing of said momentum member on said pin being loose to allow oscillation of said member, said member being overweighted to one side of the bearing to cause the member to oscillate.

5. A sparking toy of the class described comprising a pulley having a groove, a cord adapted to wind in said groove and spin said pulley, a

pivot pin substantially in alignment with the spinning axis of said pulley, a momentum disk freely pivoted on said pin, a pencil of pyrophoric material projecting from the inner face of said disk, and abradant material on the abutting face of said pulley, the bearing of said momentum disk on said pin being cut back on the side thereof opposite the pyrophoric pencil, whereby said disk may oscillate toward the pulley.

6. A sparkling toy of the class described comprising a pulley having a groove, a cord adapted to wind in said groove and spin said pulley, a headed pivot pin substantially in alignment with the spinning axis of said pulley, a momentum disk freely pivoted on said pin, said disk having a radial slot therein, a pencil of pyrophoric material mounted in said slot and projecting therefrom toward said pulley and abradant material on said pulley for engagement by said pencil, the bearing in said disk being enlarged toward the headed end of said pivot pin to allow oscillation of said disk.

'7. A sparking toy of the class described comprising a top having a groove, a cord in said groove for spinning said top, a pivot pin in substantial alignment with the axis of said top, a momentum member loosely pivoted on said pin to allow limited oscillation of said member, sparking elements on the proximate faces of said top and momentum member, rotation being imparted to said momentum member from said top by intermittent engagement of said sparking elements due to oscillation of said member.

8. A sparking toy of the class described which is adapted to be thrown from the hand and wind up and down on a held cord comprising a pulley having an annular groove therein, a cord secured to said pulley in the groove, a pivot pin projecting from one face of said pulley substantially in alignment with the axis thereof, a momentum disk loosely swiveled on said pivot pin, and sparking elements on the proximate faces of said pulley and disk, said disk having a narrow bearing on said pivot pin and being overbalanced to one side of its bearing to thereby cause engagement of said sparking elements.

9. A sparking toy of the class described comprising a spinning top, means for spinning said top about a substantially horizontal axis, a pivot pin on said top in alignment with the spinning axis thereof, a momentum member loosely and freely swiveled on said pivot pin, and sparking elements on proximate faces of said top and member, said momentum member being free to rotate on said pin and being overweighted on one side of its bearing on said pin to cause the memher to oscillate on said pin. 

